Another 3- Feet of Our Dune Erodes—Emergency Beach Sub-Committee Meets

LSPOA Beach Sub-Committee member Diane Desenberg overlooks the encroaching dune loss

It can best be described as a catastrophic loss.  You should know that in just the past two-days... nearly three-more horizontal feet of dune has washed away from our North Lido beach, leaving just a precarious seven-feet between our Pavilion and the Gulf.  Ten-members of the newly created LSPOA Beach Sub-Commmittee, led by Elliott Himelfarb, met Wednesday evening (May 16) to discuss measures to save the Pavilion.  Other members include Ken Abt, Roberto Arguedas, Gail and Stu Barzman, Lynn Carvel, Diane Desenberg, Lee Edstrom, Carol Fuoco and Bob Thill.

Following the 90-minute meeting... and a visit to the beach by some committee members... the Committee is recommending an immediate fix.  It's asking the LSPOA Board of Directors for approval  to deploy sand bags at the base of the escarpment or dune in an effort to save what's left of our fast eroding sand.  And to hopefully buy some time to decide what needs to be done next, if anything, with the imperiled Pavilion.  LSPOA President Lynn Carvel said she will poll Board members by email to spend up to $5,000 for the emergency stop gap measure.

Imperiled Pavilion

Beach Sub-Committee member Ken Abt contacted our beach landscape contractor during the meeting, who confirmed he can have a crew fill and construct the sandbag barrier as early as this weekend.  The contractor has already been busy doing the same type of beach work for the Ritz Carlton Beach Residences on sand starved South Lido Key.

In the meantime, Elliott, along with Board member Richard LaBrie moved the beach benches back to near the Pavilion entrance walkway.  The alternate beach path created recently by Marg and Dan Mills is already crumbling.  And two of our private property signs, once high and dry, are now lying on the Pavilion floor.

More beach signs lost as dunes erode

The current Pavilion was constructed in 2004, at a cost of $78,000.  Elliott reported our insurance company has been contacted and our agent has already visited the site.  Our insurance covers water and flood damage.

Discussion also turned to the possibility of dismantling the Pavilion.  It is essentially a big deck with a curved roof structure, held together by large bolts.  The committee will get estimates for taking the Pavilion apart and rebuilding it farther inland, as well as the possibility of moving the entire structure at once.  Permitting and engineering studies will be needed to relocate the popular sunset meeting space.

The alternative is doing nothing and waiting to see if Mother Nature reverses its relentless reclamation of the dunes.  But at the current rate, Gulf waters could start to imperil the closest west facing Pavilion footings, which are embedded just a few feet into the sand, within weeks, or even days.

This was our beach access

Longer term, the Beach sub-committee is also exploring holding the City of Sarasota responsible for the unprecedented sand loss.  Some members believe the city severely damaged a portion of the offshore ebb shoal when it dredged the shoal off our shoreline some three-years
ago.  That dredging may have created the scouring wave conditions that are now causing our severe sand loss today.

Elliott Himelfarb, Ken Abt and Diane Desenberg view the moved benches

 In fact, committee member Diane Desenberg says the permit request for the 2014-15 shoal dredging predicted a nine-foot a year sand loss along and near North Lido Park (where our beach is) for up to five-years after the dredging was completed.

Are we now seeing that prediction come true?  It certainly appears so.

~Bob Thill
bthill@icloud.com

Vegetation that once helped hold the receding dunes

What's left of our beach access